Pinter Fest
There's something irresistible about seeing the edginess of Nobel
Prize-winning English playwright Harold Pinter
performed in the warmth of an Afton-area theater named for The
Waltons creator Earl Hamner. Local theater maven Boomie
Pedersen directs A Slight Ache, which was
written in 1958. Head to Nelson while it's still light and have
dinner at a local brewery, like the nearby Blue Mountain.March 8, 9, 10, 7:30pm; March 11, 2pm,
Hamner Theater,
$15

A Slave in the White HouseNot everyone
was enthralled with Dolley Madison; and her former slave, Paul
Jennings, was one with misgivings, according to his own memoir of
working for President James Madison. Barboursville
author Elizabeth Dowling Taylor, who has worked at
both Monticello and Mon...

A grassroots protest of a controversial women's health care bill
recently approved by the state Senate brought hundreds to the state
Capitol grounds in Richmond March 3 and ended with the arrest of 30
people on the Capitol steps.

"This is like Star Wars," said one attendee of the black-clad,
shield-carrying Virginia State Police officers, who lined up
to keep people away from the building that houses Virginia's
General Assembly.

The demonstration was in response to a bill that originally
required a transvaginal ultrasound for women seeking abortions– and
which quickly became a national controversy and target of derision
among satirists including Saturday Night Live.

After Governor Bob McDonnell signaled his discomfort, House Bill
462 was modified to require a less-invasive abdominal ultrasound
and passed the Senate this week and awaits McDonnell's
signature.

Supporters say the measure helps women make a more informed
decision; opponents say the ultrasounds are medically ineffective,
a thinly-veiled attempt to thwart a woman from obtaining an
abortion.

Organizers from a group called Speak Loudly with Silence, which
led an estimated 1,200 women in silent protest on the Capitol
grounds nearly two weeks earlier, estimated the crowd of Saturday's
attendees at 900.

"This is a diverse group- they're not from any one political
group," said organizer Molly Vick. "I think [the General Assembly]
went so extreme, they brou...

Although the 26-year sentence recommended for convicted murderer
George Huguely may be winning acclaim, other aspects of the recent
trial have dismayed a high-profile victim of violence at UVA, and
she's speaking out about it.

In Commonwealth v. Beebe, Liz Seccuro pressed charges
after one of the men who allegedly raped h...

Grad students Ajay Chandra and Tim Bruno went more than 10 days without food until the hunger strike ended on Thursday, March 1.

File photo by Courteney Stuart

The hunger strike at UVA has drawn national attention.

Courteney Stuart

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After
a hunger strike lasting up to 13 days and following a statement from
UVA administration declining to raise the minimum wage at UVA
to $13 an hour, activists for the Living Wage Campaign at UVA
suspended the strike on March 1– but they're declaring victory
nonetheless.

"The administration was forced to acknowledge this Campaign,"
says former hunger striker Tim Bruno, "and, more importantly, the
crisis of low wages and the invisibility of contract workers on our
campus."

A grad student who went 11 days without eating, Bruno points to
national media attention and University-wide emails sent by
President Teresa Sullivan and V-P Michael Strine as evidence of
impact.

"We have engaged the UVA student body in an unprecedented way,"
Bruno notes in an email to a reporter. "We have educated it in an
unprecedented way."

A statement on the website of the Living Wage Campaign promises
a coming escalation: "To this administration, which has so far
failed to provide moral leadership to our University, we have only
this to say: get ready, because we are already here. We will hold
you accountable for your promises."